Letters: Two years ago today, on November 19 2005, a group of US marines went on a five-hour rampage in the Iraqi city of Haditha, killing 24 civilians - including seven women and three children - after a roadside bomb hit their Humvee, killing the driver

A US marine charged with killing 18 Iraqi civilians near the town of Haditha, among them women and children, justified his actions by saying he was following military procedures and stands by his decisions.

A criminal investigation into the deaths of 24 Iraqis in the town of Haditha last year is close to completion and will support allegations that they were deliberately killed by a group of US marines, it was reported yesterday.

The story of the Haditha massacre has assumed huge proportions in the past week. But Time magazine broke the news in March, so why the long fuse before it caught fire? The Washington Post's media commentator Howard Kurtz considers possible reasons. From a different perspective, Diana Mukkaled, an Arab journalist, points to the western media's good work in exposing the tragedy. (Via washingtonpost.com)

Time magazine carried the first article about the alleged massacre at Haditha in March. Those revelations were reported elsewhere but there was no follow-up probe by journalists, says commentator Greg Mitchell, who asks a series of pertinent questions about U.S. coverage of Iraq. (Via Editor and Publisher: Today's Most Viewed Articles)